1- Reunion
The Flames of the Phoenix- Reunion
Canterlot
It has only been two days since the Centaur named Tirek had trampled through the streets of Canterlot and things were beginning to go back to normal. However, despite everypony feeling normal, not all creatures were able to quickly recover from the scary events from a few days ago. Philomena was one such example as she sat perched upon her personal resting place. She saw Celestia outside on the Balcony as the Alicorn used her magic to raise the sun once again before turning to the bird to give her the occasional morning greeting.
“Good morning, Philomena. You look great this morning.”
The bird chirped in response and the Sun Alicorn assumed for it to be happily greet her as she went over to get it some food. Using her levitation magic to carry the avian’s food over to her tray and set it down and pet her softly with a gentle hoof before having to go prepare for day court. Philomena would normally be okay with something like this, but after recent events, the phoenix was partially worried for her caretaker’s safety. For a couple of days, the city had been under constant unrest involving the incident in Tartarus and the possibility for this leading to other future crises.
Personally, Philomena wanted things to be different. She had already seen enough horrible things. Things that her Alicorn caretaker could not begin to understand. She had seen her parents die in front of her. Saved by… her.
A thousand years ago…
A young Philomena barely a week old looked as her parents came back. Speaking in their language. “Our Hatchling, we are back.” Her mother said as they came back with heat worms. As the family was eating, a laugh could be heard.
“So touching, I see you settled down and raised a family... Phyrron.” The voice caused Philomena father to look around on alert.
“Impossible.” Landing on a nearby tree was a bird, it was like a hawk yet its very body seemed to have a look of living snow. The tree branch under it started to freeze. It was Phyrron’s arch enemy, Anivia.
“Impossible is but a word.” Anivia said with his wings opened he had an almost predatory look at the little hatchling. “You know our last fight was the one that could have ended me oh yes.” The bird walked causing the tree to freeze it wiped its feathers over the trunk caving right thought it. “However instead of finishing me you left me to die. But, as you can see…”
The tree branch then was broke as the cold froze the branch though. “I've gotten stronger.” The bird flew to the branch were the next was on slowly freezing the tree.
Phyrron was with his mate, ready to fight. “Take one more step and we will end you!!” The bird of ice had a smile. She took the step as the two charged at him covered in flames. The hatching saw them all land on the forest floor. Shadows could be seen behind her.
The hatching watched them fight the shadows behind her showed as the invader seemed to not only hold his own but seemed to be winning as her mother attempted to tackle him. He reacted by grabbing her head and smashing it into a rock while her father attempted to attack. A snap was heard as her mother neck was snapped. “NOOO!” Her father screamed.
The young hatching moved back. She then saw her father get impaled by ice. “gaaa.” He said. She fell from her nest as she moved back. She got up to see the killer of her parents right over her. “Go to Sleep.” He said as he was about to kill her.
“Leave my DAUGHTER ALONE!!”
In a surprise attack, Phyrron used the last of his strength to put his body over Philomena and cast themselves in a fiery barrier, warding Anivia away from them.
The bird screamed as his opponent then grabbed him. “Hatchling, run.” That would be the phoenix’s last words. Philomena tried to fly away as her father burned himself in an explosion. When it was done, Phyrron was victorious. However he was tired. He burned out his life force in that last attack. He had only a few hours to live this time. Maybe minutes. As he laid in the snow, Philomena returned to him, crawling underneath his wings to seek shelter. Her father couldn’t speak since his throat was destroyed. But, as a new figure approached them and refused to leave, Philomena saw her father smile. Thankful for whoever this was to be here now.
“So…” The figure spoke. “What should I call you……? How about…… Philomena?”
Present
The grown phoenix could still remember those moments as her father faded away and she was left in the care of a new figure. One that understood her. Could speak to her. Relate to…
“I’m back, Philomena.”
The avian was surprised to see her Alicorn friend return. But, she looked a little concerned for her. “Philomena, is something wrong…? You didn’t eat your food.”
She chirped a little, trying her best to show that nothing was bothering her. But Celestia thought otherwise. Something in her years of experience with being around the phoenix told the Alicorn that she was somehow stressed.
Celestia decided it was best for some fresh air. Flying free usually calmed her nervous and Philomena enjoyed it as well. “Lets go for a short fly by. Some fresh air would do you some wonders.” Celestia proposed. Philomena gave a chirp. Perhaps flying in the morning air would help calm her nervousness. The Alicorn turned towards the door of her room and caught the attention of her sister.
“Luna. Philomena and I are going to stretch our wings for a little bit. We’ll be right back.”
“Sure thing, dear sister. Please, enjoy your flight.”
“We will.” Celestia answered back. With that out of the way, she opened the door to the balcony, walking out with her Phoenix companion. They took off into the sky of a Canterlot morning, soaring above the thousands of civilians that call the City of Canterlot home. As Philomena soared next to her, she felt the need to go faster. As the avian looked down though, the phoenix thought she saw something… impossible.
She thought that she saw… an old friend.
Without warning, the phoenix went for a barreling nosedive as it soared towards the ground, catching Celestia by surprise. Crying out with a loud shriek.
The Alicorn flew after the Phoenix as she landed on the ground to see what had cause Philomena to act this way. It was the first time that she had seen the phoenix fly off on her own like this. As she landed though, the princess saw the phoenix come back up and fly to a clearing that was by a lake and that had only a single oak tree. However, something was by the tree. Something she couldn’t make out from her current position. She needed to get closer.
Lightly flapping her wings, the pony soared over for a small distance until she came across a strange sight. Philomena had found a young… bipedal figure that wore a red scarf around her neck, a grey garment that covered half of her body and another separate garment that covered the bottom half. The creatures mane was tied up in a ponytail as well and it also had red, fire like eyes. But what surprised the princess the most was when the figure used it’s… hand… to rub Philomena on top of her head. A place that she never allowed Celestia to touch.
The figure hugged the Avian as it perched itself on top of it’s head. “Aww… I’ve missed you too, Philly. It’s been quite some time since I’ve last seen you.”
That… surprised the Alicorn. This being knew Philomena? Now she was becoming a little curious. So curious that when she got closer, the phoenix noticed her presence and chirped, having the figure turn towards her. It looked tense, but looking back at the bird on her head, she relieved herself a little. “Oh, she’s a friend of yours? I didn’t know that… Well, it’s what happens when we get separated for a thousand years.”
The Alicorn herself raised an eyebrow. Did she say that as a joke or was she being serious? She couldn’t really tell. “Pardon me… I don’t mean to alarm you in any way.”
“It’s alright… I’ve had some… really bad experiences with some ponies a long while back so it’s hard to trust a lot of individuals that I meet.”
Bad experiences? With ponies? How could this girl have bad experiences with any of her subjects? “When was this?”
“Oh YEARS ago. Nothing to worry about now… Oh! My apologies, I haven’t even ask for your name.”
The Alicorn cleared her throat as she sighed. “I am Celestia. Princess of Equestria and Diarch of the Sun.”
“Wow… I’ve never thought that Philly here would be cared for by someone of royalty. Oh but where are my manners? I’m Ember. Ember Valkyr.”
“That’s a very… interesting name.” Celestia tried to follow up on what the girl said before she continued the conversation. “Tell me though, how do you know Philomena?”
“Didn’t she tell you?”
The Avian squawked for a moment, causing Ember to look up at her. “Oh, she can’t hear you? I believe I can help fix that.” For a moment, the figure stood up and placed a finger on where Celestia’s horn met her forehead. A small spark went off, having the pony jerk for a little bit. “I’m sorry if it startled you. I just wanted to make sure it worked.”
“W-what worked?”
‘Tia? Can you hear me?’
Celestia blinked in surprise. “P-philomena? Is that you!?”
‘By the heavens, it worked!! Thank you so much, Ember!!!’
Now the Alicorn herself was looking back at Ember, a little confused by what she did. “Excuse me, Ms. Ember, but what did you just do?”
“Some beings are born with the trait to hear phoenix’s speak to you mentally while others, mostly those that have high amounts of magic, can’t hear them and only hear a phoenix’s cries like other birds in nature. I just made it to where you could hear Philomena just like I can.” The girl told her as Philomena squealed with delight, making Celestia remember when Fluttershy took the firebird into her care a long time ago. “It seems you still have a lot to learn.”
“What do you mean by that?” The princess asked as she looked at Philomena. The phoenix sighed as she looked at her Alicorn friend.
‘To understand how I know Ember, you must understand something else, Tia. Do you remember what Starswirl said about my kind?’
The Princess did remember. “He said that Phoenix’s were very rare and that their might be others across Equestria?”
Philomena sighed, shaking her head. ‘We are rare, yes. But you see, there are no others. I’m the only one left. Phoenix’s have a natural enemy. A bird that isn’t made of fire, but of Ice. They are known as a Cryophoenix because they represented the cold heart of those consumed by sin. Greed, Pride, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth. A thousand years ago, My parents and I were the last ones that remained in Equestria until a Cryophoenix named Anivia attacked us. My mother died during the encounter and my father sacrificed his life force energy to protect me. As he was dying though… Ember found him.’
Celestia now looked at Ember in shock. This girl found them that long ago? How was she still alive?
‘Despite my father’s pleas for her to leave because he feared that she would become a target to Anivia, Ember refused to leave and decided to stay with us for his final moments. As a sign of kindness and generosity, he passed down his knowledge and powers to her so she could be aware of this world and it’s inhabitants. From then on, for the next five years, before I met you, Ember raised me. Took care of me. Treated me like a daughter. But then, at one point, a group of ponies that lived in the southern portion of Equestria by the Mexicolt border ambushed us. Their intent was to capture me, but Ember allowed herself to be captured so I could escape. As I flew away, I began to tire out… And that’s… when I met you.’
The Princess of the sun could not believe what she was hearing. Ponies… trying to capture them? How cruel… “W-what happened?”
Ember sighed. “What happened next is the reason why I’m known as The Tortured Phoenix. They captured me and treated me and hundreds of other innocent ponies like trash. They forced us to work for hours on end, whipped us if we were not obeying them and if we did obey, we were only to be given scraps of food and water to survive. It was pure torture. Then… one day… I snapped………” For a moment, Ember stopped talking. Celestia thought that it was because she couldn’t bear to continue about the subject. However, it wasn’t like that. “Were you ever told how the Badlands were formed?”
Celestia shook her head. “All I was told was that it was because of a massive explosion.”
Ember gritted her teeth. “That’s the thing… I was that explosion. When I snapped, I unleashed a wave of fire that consumed all the ponies that treated us like trash. Those that were put through the same pain I had to deal with had the flames restore them to proper strength while those who were giving us that pain were turned to ash that was carried away with the wind. That was when I realized how powerful I was and how I needed to control what I was capable of. That way, it would never happen again. I had been a wanderer for years. I’ve known love, loss, and what it feels like to be part of a family even though before I came here, my life was a wreck. My experiences though made me the person that I am and the hardships that I’ve been put through have only made me stronger. Philomena though, was the reason I kept on fighting. To be able to see her again. Now, I am happy.”
Ember snapped her fingers for a moment as a small bit of fire formed around her hands, letting it dance around her fingers as it flowed around with ease. Celestia though, was stunned. She couldn’t believe that her own kind would commit such atrocities. In her kingdom no less. “I-i’m sorry about everything you had to go through. If I’d had known, I would’ve done something.”
“We can’t move forward if he have our heads stuck in the past. We’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the past if we do.” Ember said, almost like a philosopher.
“That is… very wise of you to say.” Celestia complimented. “You should come with me back to Canterlot. You have quite a wonderful story and I believe that with all the years you were on your own, that some rest would be much deserved.”
“Thank you for your generosity. Can I just do one thing first?”
“Certainly-.”
Before the Alicorn could say any other words, the three of them were soon teleported to the Badlands. Philomena stood idly in the air by Celestia’s side, watching as Ember walked up to what looked like a stone. But to her shock, it wasn’t a stone.
It was a grave marker.
‘Here lies the body of Red Apple. A true friend and guide in the toughest of times. You will be missed forever.’
“Thank you for helping me when I needed it the most… I’m sorry that I was never able to help you in return, old friend…” Ember spoke, a tear in her eyes as she formed a small feather of fire in her hands and placed it on the ground.
“Who was he?” The Alicorn asked.
“A dear friend. He helped me survive the slave camps. But then, he was also the reason why I snapped.”
“The…… reason?”
“The slave owners in charge killed him in front of me… to teach me a lesson. But instead…… the opposite happened.” Ember swallowed as she sighed. “You probably might know the rest. Fortunately… his brother, Golden Apple, lived on. I even helped him construct a barn in memory of him. I haven’t been back there in centuries.”
“He was important to you?” Celestia then asked, wanting to know more.
“Yes. He and his brother even accepted me as family. Something I never thought would happen…” Ember said as she turned back around to face both Philomena and Celestia. “I’m ready to go when you two are.”
Nodding, Celestia Horn lit up, whisking them away from the barren wastes of the Badlands. Returning them to the comfortable castle of Canterlot and the Hall of Elements. Where her sister was there with Discord, the Spirit of Chaos.
“Welcome back-! Sister, who is this?”
“My apologies… Ember, this is my sister Luna and this is-.”
“Discord.” Ember interjected. “Trust me. We’ve met before.”
“We have? I don’t quite remember seeing you before……” The Chaos spirit scratched his chin, looking at the girl and trying to jog his memory. Then, he got it. “Oh, NOW I remember!! You were the girl who created the badlands.” The spirit remembered that memory. “I was about to brighten up their day then you ended the fun so I went up north instead.” Discord said.
“Brighten their day? Do you even know what hell everypony down there was going through? While you were trying to have “Fun” and sit comfortably in the place you considered home, slave handlers tortured us and made us work in the mines. They even killed my best friend until I snapped.”
Luna herself was now shocked. So was Discord. He never realized how bad things actually were. “Oh… well, I’m truly sorry to hear that, Ms. Ember.”
“It’s a thing in the past now…”
“Just out of curiosity, how did Celestia find you-?”
“I didn’t find her.” the Alicorn interjected the Draconequus mid sentence. “Philomena did.”
“She did?”
“Exactly. Before Philomena was founded by Celestia, I raised her as a promise to her dying father. But with the events of late, I’m worried about something. But for you to understand, you both must know her story.”
In the shadows of a forest, a tree slowly froze. “So… the hatchling still lives.” A claw like Philomena’s fathers cut right through the tree as it froze right into the trunk. “Oh this would been fun.”
A crystal made from the heart of the Wendigo king was infused into its body, with another piece in its very head. “I guess I’ll you have a bit of mercy... For when I’m done, the Alicorn and your caretaker will be dead.” He was no fool. The Spirit of Chaos was too much to take on. Plus he had respect for Nightmare Moon, so he'll let the moon princess live.
But for now, he had other tasks to attend to. Before he went back to the focus of exterminating what remained of the Phoenix’s…
For when there was no more fire to warm their hearts… they will fear the chill that comes with a cold death. They WILL fear…… Anivia.
End Chapter 1
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Love the story can't wait to see what happens next in the story.
5954639 Glad you like it
Thanks. Fav
5956167 Ur welcome
I like the idea of this story a lot, also I loved the Cyrophoenix idea.
5956757 thanks. I'm glad you like it
A few hiccups here and there concerning grammar and spelling. A little bit more than the norm for you, have you been writing and spell checking while being tired? Might want to take another look or two on these chapters.
An interesting tale, I feel compelled to draw Ember.
Just a few things, respectfully...
Imperiled? As in 'put in danger?' Or Impaled? As in stabbed through?
Also pacing.
I think flashbacks over a duration would have worked better for backstory.
Also finding it hard to peg her demeanor, is she sage? Remorseful? Resentful? She had an outburst at Discord but a second later it sorta fizzles out.
Still, like it, will continue on
I think you mean refused and saw... Also, what about Peewee and his family? Plus I think there are other phoenixes, too, but they're very scarce..
5995285 Fixed
He's kind of an idiot, isn't he? I mean, I know Celestia isn't doing much, but she still has the power of the sun, so I doubt she would lose to that birdie! Oh, and Discord probably won't let him do anything to them either! Silly, little villain!
6655921 Anivia had abilities over all ice and snow. Her powers can cause the planet to freeze over if she is at full strenght
Damn... Just how much power does she have?
8433649
You'll see
Dun Dun Duuuuuuuun
9511821
Yeah, but even the strongest of flames can flicker out if there's too much cold
>>FrostTheWolf
True, very true.
Is anivia a boy or a girl in this?
9774883
Girl
That's so beautiful. I love the picture.
I’m just curious here but will she be able to shift form to a full Phoenix eventually or just remain a VERY powerful pyromancer
10446075
You'll have to read and see for yourself
Blackfrost Anivia I'm assuming, because regular Anivia isn't that cruel.
Alright, I can't keep on with this story. The pacing is very bad, and you keep falling into the same trap of telling instead of showing. I'm sure your writing has probably improved by now, but this story is still suffering the early part, and I'm having a hard time pushing through.
I don't mean any insult, I'm just trying to give constructive criticism instead of silently disliking and leaving, which I know is extremely annoying to deal with.